Page:Fairy tales and stories (Andersen, Tegner).djvu/77



THE MONEY-PIG

HERE was such a lot of toys in the nursery; on the top of the chest of drawers stood the money-box. It was made of clay in the shape of a pig, and had the usual slit in its back, but this slit had been made bigger with a knife, so that silver dollars could also be put into it; two of these had already passed through, besides many other kinds of money. The money-pig was so stuffed that he could not rattle any longer, and that is the highest a money-pig can attain to. There he stood on top of the chest of drawers and looked down upon everything in the room; he knew well enough that with what he had in his stomach he could buy the whole lot of them, and that 's what is called having confidence in oneself. 45